CAMPAIGNING environmentalist George Monbiot has long been an outspoken critic of how the park has been managed and has called for hill farming to be scrapped and the area to be returned to its original wilderness.

He believes the award is a disaster for wildlife and the ecology of the area.

He said: “It makes it much harder now to change the direction of our natural heritage and to restore some of the wonder of the living world which have been more or less erased."

Viv Lewis, of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners – sheepfarmers who work the hills – gave a cautious welcome to the announcement.

She said it recognised the generations of farmers that have worked the landscape and could help them overcome problems caused by Brexit.

She said: “Farmers are immensely proud that this way of farming is being recognised internationally.

“They are feeling pretty beleaguered by environmentalists and campaigners like George Monbiot who say wildlife is declining as a result.

“No one knows what the measure will bring, it sounds like most of the benefits will come for tourism.

“A lot of farmers have campsites and B&Bs and there might be extra cachet to stay on a farm in a World Heritage Site.

“But, in the wake of Brexit, we face uncertain times and our way of farming is at risk.

“Our aim is to see the present number of farm holdings retained in the Lake District so that the special qualities recognised by Unesco are still around into the next century and beyond."